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Seely and Interstate Highway History 2006
August 2006
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the legislation that provided the funding mechanism that allowed the construction of more than 44,000 miles of Interstate highway. Today it seems almost impossible to imagine the country without this network of highways, but getting all of the elements in place that allowed its construction took more than a decade. Historian Bruce Seely, social sciences department chair, wrote about the American highway program in his dissertation and later books and articles and has been busy this year talking to technical and policy audiences interested in understanding that history. Part of their motivation is to learn lessons from this program as the nation grapples with meeting its future transportation needs.
On June 29, Seely addressed a policy forum sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, "The Interstate Highway System: Fifty Years and Looking Forward," in Washington D.C. His talk, “Interstates: How We Got Here and What We’ve Learned,” was cited by Kenneth Orski, editor of Innovation Briefs, in his email newsletter "Reflections on the Interstates' Golden Anniversary."
On Monday, July 24, Seely delivered a paper entitled "The Interstate System: Looking Back, Looking Forward" as part of a panel on “The Interstate at 50” at the summer meeting of the Transportation Research Board's Committee on Historic and Archaeological Preservation in Transportation, held in Williamsburg, Va.
And on July 25, he made an invited presentation, "Development of the Interstate Highway System," to the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission at the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, DC. The commission is charged with reporting back to Congress by July 1, 2007, with recommendations on funding and developing the nation's surface transportation networks. Seely's presentation to the commission was part of a panel and discussion entitled "History as Prologue."
Seely also has published two recent articles: "Frank Turner and the Interstate" in the APWA Reporter, Vol. 73, No. 6 (June 2006); and "How the Interstate System Came to Be: Tracing the Historical Process," in TR News, No. 244 (May-June 2006). The second is the lead-off article in a special issue devoted to "The Interstate at 50: Retrospect and Prospects." The journal is published by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. He also is part of a podcast on the history of the Interstate highway system produced by the American Society of civil Engineers: Happy Birthday to the Interstate System at http://www.asce.org/podcasts/ .
Related Links
Highways at a Crossroads: The Interstate Turns 50
Tech Today, July 13, 2006
Happy Birthday to the Interstate System MP3 Podcast | Mirror Site
"On June 29th 1956, President Eisenhower signed the legislation that created the Interstate Highway system. Celebrate the 50th anniversary with us by listening to discussions with Bruce Seely, transportation historian and professor of history at Michigan Tech University, and Tom Warne, P.E., M.ASCE, former executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation.(46:43 minutes)"
The podcast was produced by the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Government Relations Department.
